“Top Craft Trends For 2013”

From craft fairs and street markets to haute couture fashion shows and pop culture, the Michaels trend team scours the globe each year to forecast trends that will inspire new ideas for all kinds of creative DIY projects.

Michaels, North America’s largest arts and crafts specialty retailer, uses the latest trends to make sure its shelves are stocked with an exciting, updated product mix and its website is packed with creative new ideas. Here are the newest crafting trends for 2013:

Nostalgia/vintage:This vintage craft trend harkens back to childhood and invokes images of grandma’s house, but interprets them in fresh, new ways using dramatic scale, different colors and unusual applications. Key elements include jumbo pom-poms; chalkboard paint and paper; doilies thatare dip-dyed and molded into interesting shapes; lace in many forms and materials; and laser-cut frames for art and home décor. Mason jars come out of the pantry and become colorful, fun lanterns, drinking glasses and vases; and vintage book pages and newsprint are reimagined in banners, paper flowers and home décor surfaces.

Eco-chicbrings nature into crafting with wood grain, natural fibers, rope, paper and cork. Key green/eco craft elements include raw, unfinished wood with an emphasis on the grain and affordable burlap on everything from pillows to spooled ribbon. Nature is imitated with paper-crafted flowers in tissue, recycled newsprint and scrapbooking papers that seem as fresh and new as the real thing.

Unexpected materialspop up in traditional crafts like wreaths, banners and garlands. Projects include wreaths made of photos, balloons, clothes pins, fabric remnants and more. Banners and garlands are personalized and embellished for all types of life celebrations such as weddings, birthdays and holidays. Embellishments include twine, ribbon and mixed-media elements.

Personalizationcontinuesstrong into 2013, with initials and monograms showing up on all kinds of projects. Everyday objects like cell phone cases and shoes become one of a kind with any type of bling or embellishment imaginable.

“From home decorating to celebrations to seasonal projects and beyond, these trends will inspire DIYers throughout the year to try something new and different, or see an old favorite in a new way,” said Michaels Trend and Design Director Becki Speakman . “We look forward to seeing how our customers interpret these trends in their own unique ways when they share their projects on our Facebook and Pinterest pages.”